A LAWMAKER said Tuesday his group will ask the Supreme Court to stop the implementation of Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, that President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law on Dec. 19 last year.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the implementation of the tax reform package this year will hit 15.2 million poor families the hardest.
“With the implementation of TRAIN, the majority of our poor people will suffer the most with the expected spike in the prices of prime commodities and services beginning this month,” Zarate said.
He made the statement even as four lawmakers on Tuesday warned of economic sabotage if the oil firms would be found guilty of profiteering from the premature fuel price increases as a result of the implementation of the recently enacted tax reform package.
Reps. Miro Quimbo of Marikina City, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, LRay Villafuerte and Raneo Abu of Batangas also called on the Department of Energy to conduct spot audits on the old stocks of oil.
At the Senate, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara called on the government to use the revenues that will be generated from the new tax reform law on programs that will directly benefit ordinary Filipinos, specifically the improvement of the public transportation system in the country.
Recent reports said the Metro Rail Transit 3 broke down more than 500 times in 2017 and stranded thousands of passengers.
“The TRAIN law should fix our trains,” Angara said.
He said it was not right that thousands of passengers were being inconvenienced by the poor service of the MRT 3.
Zarate said the “price shock” to be brought by the recently enacted tax reform package would definitely hit the poor the hardest because of their low take-home pay.
The new low will raise pump prices by P2.97 per liter of gasoline, P2.80 per liter of diesel and P3.36 per liter of kerosene, Zarate said.
“There will be a severe domino effect on the prices of other products and services that will be further aggravated by the VAT increases on these products,” Zarate said.
“The effect of this price shock will be crippling to the 15.2-million poor families and to the whole economy.
“We will challenge the legality of this runaway TRAIN as it was railroaded in the House without the required quorum and distribution of approved copies to the members.”